"Jobs called Android a 'stolen product', but theft can be a tricky concept when talking about innovation. The iPhone didn't emerge fully formed from Jobs's head. Rather, it represented the culmination of incremental innovation over decades - much of which occurred outside of Cupertino." Nothing particularly new in there for regular OSNews readers, but still handy to have it in one place.

Apple generates polarised views. As you quite rightly point out, Apple has created lots of innovative products and features, yet others see them as being evolutionary or derivative.

However my guess is this polarisation is intentionally generated by Apple. Denying Apple’s innovation is primarily a response to the way Apple (and some Apple users) portray the nature of Apple's innovation.

Apple has a tendency to emphasize how innovative its products are without acknowledging the innovation of others. In fact, it even goes further to dismiss others' innovation (see e.g. the "stolen product" claim). This is particularly dangerous if your primary means of innovation is through something as intangible as polish (although I’d personally say there’s more to Apple than that).

The natural response to this is to play down Apple's innovation, since it's the only way to restore perspective. In my view, the consequence is that both sides end up in implausible positions.